Paul Schrader’s nihilistic films have often explored troubled men and outsiders with a violent past who are seeking redemption for their past deeds. Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton) is one such man, hiding from the demons of his past, making him a quintessential Schrader creation. Roth is the chief horticulturalist tending to Gracewood Gardens, the sprawling…
The Old Oak is widely regarded as likely to be the final film from revered 86-year-old British director Ken Loach. For over six decades, the filmmaker has championed the working class and their concerns. His film career began in 1967 with Poor Cow and since then Loach’s films have always tackled contemporary social issues with…
Saltburn is a dark thriller about obsession, power, privilege, and a desperate desire to belong. It’s a debauched variation on The Talented Mr Ripley meets Brideshead Revisited. This is the sophomore feature from writer/director Emerald Fennell, who won an Oscar for her screenplay for 2020’s Promising Young Woman. It’s 2006. Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) is…
Freelance is a disposable action-comedy from French filmmaker Pierre Morel, best known for putting Liam Neeson through his paces in the thriller Taken in 2008. Freelance stars former wrestler turned actor John Cena as Mason Pettits, a former special forces operative who left the military after a mission in the fictitious South American country of…
The lavish Italian/French co-production Caravaggio’s Shadow by actor-director Michele Placido looks at the final years in the life of Caravaggio (born Michelangelo Merisi). This is something of a passion project for Placido, who had been fascinated with the artist for over half a century and had long wanted to explore his life and legacy on…
Another formulaic survival story, The Dive is a remake of the little-seen 2020 Norwegian drama Breaking Surface, and it adds little that is new or surprising. Sisters Drew (Australian actress Sophie Lowe) and May (Louisa Krause) share a love of deep-sea diving, instilled in them from a young age by their father. Every year the…
The powerful Australian produced and shot drama Shayda is set in suburban Australia in 1995 but has contemporary resonance as it deals with some important themes. It centres around Shayda (Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi) who is married to Hossein (Osama Sami) who has moved to Australia to study medicine and become a doctor. He…
In Olivier Peyon’s Lie With Me, noted author Stephane Belcourt (Guillaume de Tonquédec) returns to his childhood hometown in the Cognac-producing region of south-west France after a 35-year absence and faces some of the ghosts of his past. He has been invited to be the guest speaker and brand ambassador for the town’s signature cognac…
The charming if rough-edged coming-of-age drama Scrapper taps into that unique British genre – the kitchen sink drama. Twelve-year-old Georgie (newcomer Lola Campbell) lives all alone in her apartment on a council housing estate outside London following the recent death of her mother. Self-reliant and resourceful, she pretends to social services that she is living…
The charming Last Film Show centres around Samay (Bhavin Rabari), a cheeky and intelligent 9-year-old boy who lives in a remote, impoverished region of northern India. His father makes chai for the passengers of the trains that stop briefly at the local railway station. But after a visit to a cinema in a nearby town…
